This dataset contains 2-boat tow, push net and scoop net catches from the Yukon River Delta for 2014

The Auke Lake system has endemic populations of pink, chum, sockeye and coho salmon, and supports populations of Dolly Varden char and cutthroat and steelhead trout. The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and its predecessor agency, U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, began salmon research at Auke Creek, near Juneau, Alaska, in 1961. There are emigrant and immigrant counts of several species over nearly five decades (Appendices 1 and 2). Pink salmon fry populations at Auke Creek were estimated annually, 1972-79, and counted at the weir since 1980. Fyke nets were used capture sockeye salmon smolts leaving Auke Lake, and estimates are available for some years between 1961 and 1979. Total sockeye smolt counts are available since 1980. Chum salmon fry were counted annually since 1985. Coho salmon smolt estimates were made in 1976, 1977, and 1979, and the total coho smolt emigration was counted since 1980. Dolly Varden char and cutthroat trout were counted in 1970 and since 1980. Steelhead emigrants were counted since 1990. Weir counts of sockeye salmon adults at Auke Creek began in 1963; pink and chum salmon were counted 1967-68, and all salmon were counted since 1971. Chinook salmon entered Auke Creek since 1987 as a result of releases of juveniles from other hatcheries. Immigrant Dolly Varden and cutthroat and steelhead trout were counted from 1997-2006. Auke Creek is the site of many research projects on wild and hatchery salmonids. The present weir at Auke Creek was constructed in 1980, and provided the capability to capture all emigrant and immigrant salmonids. Annual operations and maintenance costs associated with Auke Creek Research Station are provided by NMFS through the salmon research program of Auke Bay Laboratory. Projects at Auke Creek between 1971 and 1983 operated under several cooperative agreements. An interagency cooperative agreement relating to Auke Creek weir was established in 1983 between the NMFS, University of Alaska-Fairbanks (UAF), and Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG). The agreement provided the authority to jointly fund a full-time person to assist with the operation of the fish counting weir at Auke Creek. The primary objective is to operate the weir on a daily basis and maintain the long-term data collections on migrant salmonids. Auke Creek weir usually operates from early March through late October. A report of fish counts from daily weir operations and other information related to salmonid research involving the facilities at the weir is prepared each year. The annual fish count data are available in the Auke Creek data file at the NMFS Auke Bay Laboratory. Data collected on specific projects outside the scope of the cooperative agreements are usually not included in the annual report. Those data may be available from project investigators or their respective agencies.

The dataset contains Aluette and Mamou trawl catches from the Yukon delta for 2014 and 2015.

Swimming depth and water temperature were recorded every 3 minutes during the 2002-2004 spawning migration for Yukon River Chinook salmon tagged with radio-archival tags. Telemetry data, obtained using remote tracking stations and aerial surveys, were used to determine the upriver movements of the fish. Ninety-five tags were recovered, including 35 tags returned by fishermen and 60 tags retrieved during spawning ground surveys.

The Strait of Juan de Fuca Intensively Monitored Watershed (IMW) began in 2004 to test the watershed-scale response of steelhead and coho salmon to watershed restoration. The Strait IMW includes two treatment watersheds (East Twin River and Deep Creek) and one control watershed (West Twin River). Restoration treatments included LWD placement, road and culvert removal, off-channel habitat creation, and riparian planting. Monitoring of physical habitat as well as coho and steelhead parr densities began in 2004 using the EPA’s EMAP site selection and sampling protocols. Smolt and adult monitoring predates the IMW program and began as early as 1998 in some watersheds. Preliminary results suggest an increase in pool habitat and small increases in steelhead adults and smolts in East Twin River, as well as adult coho in Deep Creek. PIT tagging has revealed a large outmigration of age-0 coho in the fall that contributes to the adult return, stream swapping by juveniles, and varying return times for coho adults. Current research has answered a portion of our original questions and has raised new ones. Restoration treatments were completed fairly recently or are still in progress. As habitat typically does not respond immediately to treatment, additional years of monitoring are needed to determine watershed-scale fish response. Moving forward, analysis of otoliths to validate PIT tag data and new restoration methods such as carcass or nutrient enhancement may be merited. PIT tagging and habitat data. Includes fish weight, length, location, and PIT tag number. Habitat data includes wood measurements and stream surveys.

Changes in size and age at maturity of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) were monitored for two locations in North America. Chum salmon spawners returning to Fish Creek, southeastern Alaska, were sampled yearly from 1972 through 1996. Spawners retuning to the Quilcene National Fish Hatchery in Hood Canal, Washington, were sampled yearly from 1973 through 1996. Size at maturity of both populations declined significantly from about 1980 to the mid-1990s. Age at maturity increased during this time. These changes were associated with a major ocean climate regime shift in the North Pacific Ocean that occurred in 1976-77. Population abundance of chum salmon increased greatly after the regime shift, especially in Asia. Similar changes in size and age at maturity occurred in Asian chum salmon; because the range of North American and Asian chum salmon overlaps on the high seas, these changes are discussed in relation to possible density-dependent population factors. Since the mid-1990s, size at maturity and population abundance have increased, possibly indicating another climate change in the North Pacific Ocean.

A time series of scale samples (1956 2002) collected from adult sockeye salmon returning to Naknek River were retrieved from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. These scales were digitized, revealing growth information for the freshwater and marine life history stages of sockeye salmon. The growth information will be related to time series of sockeye salmon production to Bristol Bay and oceanographic conditions within the Bering Sea and North Pacific Ocean.

Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are an important commercial, subsistence, and recreational fishery resource in Alaska, and recent population declines have resulted in closures of some Chinook Salmon fisheries. Research into environmental factors involved in the decline of salmon stocks has exposed information gaps regarding fine-scale freshwater habitat quality known to influence Chinook Salmon productivity. We developed spatially-explicit intrinsic habitat potential models for Chinook Salmon freshwater spawning and rearing life-stages based on geomorphic stream network attributes (e.g., gradient, mean annual flow, valley bottom width). Model predictions were applied to individual stream reaches and summarized across synthetic stream networks derived from high-resolution (5-meter) digital elevation models covering the Yukon River drainage west of the US-Canada border and the entire Kuskokwim River drainage (total stream length ~667,000 km across 1.3 million km2 area). Vector spatial datasets include unique reach contributing area (uRCA) and unique reach contributing area valley bottom (uRCA VB) polygons, and confluence to confluence streamline edges derived from the NetMap synthetic streamlines product. Tabular data includes a collection of stream attributes summarized by uRCA or uRCA VB polygons, and habitat model results derived from these stream attributes. See metadata records for individual data elements for a description of input sources, software environments, data quality, processing steps, and attribute information. Approximately 87,500 and 39,500 stream km were predicted to represent moderate to high (index scores 0.6-1.0) Chinook Salmon rearing and spawning habitat suitability, respectively. Our high-resolution, spatially explicit dataset provides many options for summarizing and visualizing habitat suitability across areal units (e.g., river basins, land management boundaries) and assessing the potential for high suitability habitats outside the known distribution of Chinook Salmon at scales useful for managers and the research community.

Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are an important commercial, subsistence, and recreational fishery resource in Alaska, and recent population declines have resulted in closures of some Chinook Salmon fisheries. Research into environmental factors involved in the decline of salmon stocks has exposed information gaps regarding fine-scale freshwater habitat quality known to influence Chinook Salmon productivity. We developed spatially-explicit intrinsic habitat potential models for Chinook Salmon freshwater spawning and rearing life-stages based on geomorphic stream network attributes (e.g., gradient, mean annual flow, valley bottom width). Model predictions were applied to individual stream reaches and summarized across synthetic stream networks derived from high-resolution (5-meter) digital elevation models covering the Yukon River drainage west of the US-Canada border and the entire Kuskokwim River drainage (total stream length ~667,000 km across 1.3 million km2 area). Vector spatial datasets include unique reach contributing area (uRCA) and unique reach contributing area valley bottom (uRCA VB) polygons, and confluence to confluence streamline edges derived from the NetMap synthetic streamlines product. Tabular data includes a collection of stream attributes summarized by uRCA or uRCA VB polygons, and habitat model results derived from these stream attributes. See metadata records for individual data elements for a description of input sources, software environments, data quality, processing steps, and attribute information. Approximately 87,500 and 39,500 stream km were predicted to represent moderate to high (index scores 0.6-1.0) Chinook Salmon rearing and spawning habitat suitability, respectively. Our high-resolution, spatially explicit dataset provides many options for summarizing and visualizing habitat suitability across areal units (e.g., river basins, land management boundaries) and assessing the potential for high suitability habitats outside the known distribution of Chinook Salmon at scales useful for managers and the research community.

This study is a cooperative effort between Douglas Island Pink & Chum (DIPAC), the University of Alaska Fairbanks, School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (UAF, SFOS), the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, Auke Bay Lab (ABL), and the Alaska Department of Fish & Game (ADF&G) to determine the potential for interactions between DIPAC hatchery chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) fry and wild chum salmon fry in Taku Inlet, Southeast Alaska. We analyzed patterns in spatial and temporal distribution, size, and condition of juvenile chum salmon collected in the littoral and neritic waters of Taku Inlet in 2004 and 2005. Energy density and diet of wild and hatchery chum salmon fry in Taku Inlet were analyzed and compared to data obtained later in the season for chum salmon stocks caught in Icy Strait. The greatest potential for wild/hatchery interactions was in the outer inlet, directly following early hatchery releases (May 9-11). Peak outmigration for wild chum salmon fry coincided with early hatchery releases; in contrast, most wild chum salmon fry had already emigrated from the estuary by the time of late hatchery fry release (May 22 June 1). In both years, hatchery fry were rare in the inner inlet, but comprised over 95% of the catch in the outer estuary during the peak of outmigration. Hatchery chum salmon were significantly larger than wild fry in both beach and neritic samples. Wild and early hatchery chum salmon were smaller in the littoral than the neritic habitat, indicating that both groups moved from shallow to deeper water with ontogeny. In spite of large differences in abundance, no negative correlation between abundance of hatchery fish and condition of wild fish was identified. Both wild and early hatchery chum salmon fry showed apparent growth through the season, while late hatchery fry appeared to leave the estuary soon after release. Regardless of origin, most chum salmon juveniles emigrated from the study area in late May and early June, indicating a high probability for mixed-stock schools. Hatchery chum salmon juveniles were initially larger and had greater energy content than wild fish; however, energetic values converged by mid-June in Taku Inlet. In Icy Strait, energetic condition of wild and hatchery chum salmon juveniles was also similar. Multivariate analysis of 54 prey measures indicated that diets of the two groups were distinctly different throughout the season in all Taku Inlet locations and converged in Icy Strait.